


Take Five

by kinoface



Category: Arashi (Band), Zebraman 2
Genre: Community: je_whiteday, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-13
Updated: 2012-03-13
Packaged: 2017-11-02 08:21:30
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinoface/pseuds/kinoface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five ways Zebra Queen and Aiba-chan never interacted, and one way they did.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Take Five

**Author's Note:**

  * For [elfiepike](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfiepike/gifts).



> I told elfie, "I just KNOW that if we both sign up for White Day, one of us is going to get the other," and she was like, "Would it be so bad to have me? :D?" AND IT TURNS OUT HAVING HER WAS GREAT, SO GREAT.
> 
> Thank you to aes and yayhooraiba for being excellent betas, thank you to Steinbeck for writing that speech, and thank you to elfie for requesting something so amazing and then not asking me to confirm or deny her suspicions. ♥
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://je-whiteday.livejournal.com/49764.html) for White Day.

_**Five Ways Zebra Queen and Aiba-chan Never Interacted . . .** _

_**1\. Mild-Mannered** _

As he walks down the street to his best friend's house, Aiba Masaki thinks to himself that nothing could put a damper on his mood right now. The sun is shining, he aced this morning's science exam, and to top it all off, last night was the highlight of his whole week -- no, _year_ : as his secret crime-fighting alter ego Mirror Man, he managed to stop his arch nemesis Zebra Queen in the middle of yet another heinous crime.

Zebra Queen had been given her name by the media after her first of many criminal acts, when she'd burned down an animal testing facility after freeing all of its inhabitants and leaving the scientists tied up on the side of the road, their white lab coats striped all over with black spraypaint. Although Aiba had sympathized with her intentions, the vandalism and arson were unforgivable, and he'd vowed to one day put an end to her crimes. Last night, he was finally able to do just that. She'd managed to slip away before the authorities could arrive, but Aiba was still successful in disrupting her plot to sabotage the arrival of two zebras on their way to the Tokyo Zoo.

Aiba feels like he's on top of the world right now, like everything is working in his favor. And so, still riding on last night's high, he makes up his mind.

Today is the day he'll confess to Riisa.

Ever since he moved to Tokyo from Chiba, Aiba has had a special relationship with the Naka twins. Kazunari was the first boy to ever befriend him, and Riisa was the first girl to ever make him feel... well, the way he feels about her. He carried this crush all through his adolescence, and now that he's an adult, about to graduate college and start a new chapter in his life, he can't possibly keep this secret any longer. And with the incredible streak of luck he's on, what's the worst that could happen?

When he's finally standing at Riisa's door, his heart feels as if it's stuttered to a stop. She's as adorable as ever, in an outfit that includes three kinds of animal print and at least five bright colors. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and her earrings, tiny sparkly rainbows suspended on strings of beads, hang all the way down to her shoulders. Even amidst all of that, the smile that blooms on her face when she sees him is the most vibrant, radiant thing about her. At the sight of it, his heart starts up again at twice the pace.

"Aiba-chan!" She greets him with a light hug and ushers him into the apartment. "I'm actually on my way out, but you can come in while I finish getting ready --"

He slips his shoes off in the entryway and wanders through the living room while she scurries into the bedroom. Her little dog comes out to greet him, and he plays with it for a few minutes until Riisa pokes her head out of the bedroom and says, "Can you do me a favor and turn my laptop off? I forgot!"

"Sure!"

He finds the laptop on the kitchen table. The web browser is open to a news website, and Aiba doesn't mean to look, he really doesn't, but the title of the article jumps out at him: _MIRROR MAN VS. ZEBRA QUEEN!_ Intrigued, he skims the article to find that it's about last night's showdown, and he's flattered to see words like "dashing" and "heroic."

He shuts down the laptop and heads back into the living room. "You were reading about Mirror Man?" he calls.

Riisa emerges from the bedroom with a duffel bag slung over one shoulder. "Yeah," she responds on her way to the front door. He follows. "It's terrible what happened to those poor animals last night."

"It's all right, though. Mirror Man got them back to safety."

He's surprised by the way she looks up at him, as if she can't quite believe what she's just heard. "Safety?" she repeats. "They should have let Zebra Queen free them! They're stuck in those cages, all for people's amusement! I know the zoo makes all these excuses about how those animals were born in captivity and wouldn't survive in the wild, but that's not true for all of them -- like those zebras --"

At this point she's not even looking at Aiba anymore, just glaring into space, but she stops and takes a moment to calm herself. She breathes, and then she's smiling again, looking back to Aiba. "Sorry, Aiba-chan. Sometimes I just get carried away thinking about stuff like that."

Though he's surprised by her sudden outburst, it excites him to see her so passionate about something. "It's okay," he assures her.

"Anyway," she says, waving everything off as she steps down into the entryway. "What was it you wanted to tell me? You sounded pretty excited on the phone."

Now that the opportunity is actually here, Aiba feels unsure, but he forces the words out. "Rii-chan, I, um -- I've liked you for a really long time, you see -- I mean, I've _really_ liked you -- and now that we're both adults and I'm about to graduate college and -- I, uh -- well... Rii-chan, will you go on a date with me?"

For one long, torturous moment, Riisa just stares, and Aiba panics. Then her face lights up in that beautiful smile, and she says, "Yes, Aiba-chan," and relief blossoms in Aiba's chest like a whole field of flowers. Riisa drops her duffel bag with a heavy _thunk_ and stands on tiptoe to envelop him in a tight hug which he returns gladly. "Yes, Aiba-chan," she says again, smiling so wide he can feel it against his shoulder. "I would love to go on a date with you."

"How about Saturday?" he says when she pulls away. "Around six? I'll meet you here!"

"That sounds great."

She's still smiling, and through his happy shock, Aiba can feel that he's grinning too. He feels high, like this streak of luck is real and nothing can bring him down. He remembers last night, and an idea suddenly pops into his head, an idea so huge that he has no hope of pushing it back down.

He's already told Riisa one secret -- now he wants to tell her the other. "There's something else I want to tell you, before you go."

She looks up from locking her front door. "Yes?"

"I..." There's a brief moment of second-guessing, but then he replays her reaction only moments earlier, remembers the feel of her smile and her embrace, and he feels invincible. "Rii-chan," he says, "I'm Mirror Man."

In the seconds since this idea occurred to him, a few scenarios have played themselves out in his mind, but none of them looked like this. Riisa's bright, expectant face falls and darkens, her smile fading until all that's left is a strange expression, one he's never seen on her before. There's shock in her eyes, but also fear and distress. "Are you serious?" is all she says.

"Absolutely," Aiba says, nodding determinedly. "One hundred percent."

She grabs her duffel bag from the floor, and she steps away from him.

"Rii-chan, what's wrong?" He moves towards her, but she holds a hand out to stop him.

"Aiba-chan," she says, her voice slow and careful. "There's something you should know about me, and I don't know how to break it gently, so I'm just going to say it, okay?"

Aiba has no idea what he's about to hear, but he nods, ready for anything.

After all -- what's the worst that could happen?

  


**_2\. Mikakuto!_ **

It starts as an innocent tickle in her throat when she wakes up on the morning of the concert. She practically drowns herself in tea and orange juice, puts to test her manager Nimi's theory that one cannot actually overdose on vitamin C, and tries to talk as little as possible throughout the day with the hope that whatever caused that little tickle will pass. Aihara Yui has not worked this hard for so many years just to ruin her first headlining concert as Zebra Queen all because of a sore throat.

For a while, her strategy seems to be working: by the time she gets into costume, she's forgotten all about her fear. But halfway through the first song, that tickle is back. She tries to ignore it and forge on, but by song three it's started to grow more painful, until song five when it feels as if the entire Mojave Desert has taken up residence inside her throat. She's having trouble hitting some of the higher notes, and when she takes a moment in between songs to talk to the fans, even she can hear that her voice sounds unusually husky.

When the lights dim and she scurries backstage for her first costume change of the night, Nimi is waiting for her behind the curtain. "You sound a bit..."

"It's fine," she insists, waving him off as various stagehands converge upon her to peel off the outer layers of her costume. "Just a sore throat --"

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the wind suddenly picks up and swirls around them, strong enough to blow her hair out of place. All around, people murmur and step away in surprise as a man suddenly jumps out from behind a costume rack, arms flailing in an attempt to balance himself as he hops towards Yui. He's dressed all in white, with a permanently windblown red ascot around his neck and a golden circlet pinning his honey-brown hair to his forehead. With his gloved hands he holds up and showcases a small package as if it were a potential prize on a game show, and with complete sincerity, he asks, "Cough drop?"

Yui stares, incredulous. "Eh?"

He opens the package and reaches inside to pull out what is, apparently, a cough drop. As he unwraps it, Yui notices that the tips are cut off the thumbs and forefingers of his white gloves. Once it's unwrapped, he pockets the wrapper and hops closer, presenting the cough drop as if he wants to put it in Yui's mouth himself. Nimi stares at her, concerned, but when Yui peers curiously into this odd stranger's face, she sees that he is completely open and completely serious in his quest. Throwing caution to the wind, she leans forward and opens her mouth to accept the cough drop. He slides it in, his fingers just barely brushing her lips before he pulls away, clearly proud for having done his job.

Everyone stares at her, waiting. The taste is pleasant enough, almost like candy, and as it starts to melt and the menthol hits her throat, she feels instant, soothing relief. "Ah!" she exclaims, thrilled. "It works!"

"Of course it works," the man declares, striking a superhero pose.

He holds the pose, then turns to leave, but she calls after him, "Wait!" He pauses mid-step, looking back over his shoulder. "Where are you going?" she asks.

He spins on his heel to face her again, but he's not looking at her anymore. She tries to figure out what he's staring at, but there's nothing of particular interest around here. Still, into the distance he gazes, his jaw set, eyes focused on some unseen destination. "I'll be around in the dark," he says, determination and devotion both clear in the unwavering timbre of his voice. "I'll be everywhere -- wherever you can feel that dry scratch in the back of your throat. Wherever there's a search for medicine so that sick people can go out with friends, I'll be there. Wherever there's an idol hounding assistants for tea with honey and lemon, I'll be there. I'll be in the way guys sound all hoarse when they forgot to close the window before they went to sleep. I'll be in the way kids laugh when they can go outside again because their allergies have finally eased up. And when the people are eating chicken noodle soup, and spending the day in bed -- I'll be there, too."

"Wow," Yui supplies after a moment of stunned silence. "That's... quite the commitment."

"I do what I must," the man responds gravely. With a flourish, he turns once again to leave, and this time she lets him go, watching him skip, a bit clumsily, towards the exit and out into the night. She can still hear his voice as he calls out, "Once again, the day is saved, thanks to Aiba-chan!"

It's a rare moment when the backstage area is calm in the middle of a concert, but right now all anyone can do is gape.

"Well," Yui says, glancing at Nimi with a shrug, "at least my throat really does feel better."

  


**_3\. Darling, Darling_ **

Being a supervillain is hard work, so when Yui arrives home at the end of the day, when she's finally away from the henchmen and the miniskirt police, finally away from Nimi, away from her father -- all she wants to do is relax. On the way to her room, she squirms out of her knee-high boots and slinks out of her coat, leaving them in a trail behind her because she knows some underling will be along to pick them up and put them where they belong. Right now, she doesn't care about cleanliness. Right now she only cares about getting to her bed and to the one person who won't bother her or tell her what to do or get in her way.

The door to her room is open just a crack. She doesn't hear any noise coming from inside, so she  
pushes the door open and calls out, "I'm home~"

When the door opens, her eyes are instantly drawn to Aiba, the brightest spot in her dark room. He's kneeling beside the bed, right where she left him that morning, and his face lights up with excitement when he sees her. "Welcome back!"

He doesn't rush up to meet her, because he's still being punished for the last time he did that and knocked her over: the metal chain running from his zebra-striped collar to the frame of her bed keeps him from standing or moving too far. Still, he's comfortable, with a square of carpet that's plush and green like grass -- the only splash of color amidst all the black -- and big enough for him to curl up on. Food and water bowls lie within reach so he doesn't dehydrate or go hungry, and although he's naked, the room is comfortably cool, not too cold or too hot. He might be receiving punishment, but he's still her pet, and taking care of him is one of the few responsibilities that is hers and hers alone.

The first day of his punishment, he was so excited to see her return home that he forgot his predicament and tried to jump up to greet her. His throat is still bruised from the harsh pull of the chain that kept him in place. But this is day three, and he seems to have learned his lesson because he's not trying to jump up or run. He's just sitting there quietly, legs tucked underneath him, hands folded in his lap like a proper boy.

She's pleased with his obedience, so she crosses the room to take a seat on the edge of the bed, and when she pats her leg, he immediately shuffles over to rest his head on her thigh. She praises him by stroking his hair and telling him, "Good boy, Aiba-chan," and it's not long before he's nuzzling up against her stomach, humming his appreciation into her thighs. He's not quite shaking, but he's definitely wriggling, like there's so much energy buzzing under his skin that he doesn't know what to do with it. When she stops stroking, he tilts his head to peer up at her. She can't help but smile down at him, a teeth-baring grin that might frighten others, but she trusts that he knows what it really means. "Ready to get up and walk around?" she asks, voice sugar-sweet.

He jolts upright and gives an exaggerated nod. "Yes," he responds, eager and earnest. "Yes, yes, please Zebra-chan, please oh please!"

She touches his collar, briefly, and trails her fingers down the cool metal links of the chain. "I'll let you loose," she promises, watching the excitement sparkle in his eyes. "But first you have to show me what a good boy you are."

He doesn't miss a beat, just nods again and licks his lips.

She stands to strip out of her leather shorts and the fishnets underneath, kicking both off into a corner, and sits back down to spread her legs for him. Yui has never cared about being proper or ladylike, and she suspects that Aiba doesn't care much either; he just noses up against her where the skin is slickest, licks a hot wet stripe right up the middle of her, and keeps licking until she's writhing against the satin sheets with one hand curled tight in his hair. It's been a long day and she's tired, frustrated, but he doesn't complain about how long it takes, just works twice as hard to get her there with his talented mouth and his velvety tongue. Eventually she hitches a leg up over his shoulders, uses her free hand to work against her clit while the hand in his hair holds him close, and then she's coming, crying out and clenching her thighs around him.

As the last of the aftershocks roll their way through her, she untangles her fingers from his hair with a great sigh and collapses bonelessly onto the bed. When she sits up again, several minutes later, he's still sitting there quietly with his chin perched on the bed, eyes happy and hopeful.

"Get my clothes, baby," she orders, and is pleased when he obeys without question. The chain is just long enough that if he stretches out, his fingers are just barely able to snag the foot of her tights and drag the rest of the bundle into reach. He crawls back over to the bed along with her discarded clothing, and she fishes around in each of the pockets until she finds her pack of cigarettes. She pulls out a cigarette and the lighter that's tucked inside, and once it's lit, she inhales deeply and breathes it out slowly, letting the smoke drift from her mouth and curl up towards the ceiling. Then she dips her fingers back into the box and retrieves a set of small silver keys.

The chain comes off, but the collar stays on. Aiba doesn't mind or even notice. After all this time, it's just another part of him.

"Good boy, Aiba-chan," she breathes, smoke coming out along with her words, and pats his head as she stands. "Let's go for a walk."

  


**_4\. Like an Animal_ **

For having been open barely a month, Zebra City has become a surprisingly popular destination for the citizens of Tokyo's seedy underbelly. The place is packed, filled wall to wall with people dancing and drinking. Aiba shoulders his way to the bar, and there are so many people crowded around it that the bartender, a woman with short blonde hair and the swagger of a person twice her size, takes a minute or two to get to him. When she finally makes it to the stool he's managed to claim, she fixes him with a steady gaze even as she continues to pour and mix drinks. She asks with a nod, "What'll it be?"

Aiba props his elbow on the bartop and leans in, lowering his voice so only she can hear. "Maybe you can help me," he says. "I was told to come here for a good time." The last two words receive special emphasis; he's not sure how accurate the information is, but it's the magic code all the rumors have pointed to.

He must be onto something, because when she hears those words, the bartender stops what she's doing completely and leans across the counter to stare him right in the face. He doesn't back down, and she studies him for a long moment, eyes hard and unreadable, before asking, "You a cop?"

Aiba is used to this kind of scrutiny, so he just waves it off with a bubbly laugh. "Just an interested party," he responds.

The bartender stares a moment longer, and then she glances off into a corner and gives a single, curt nod. "Tominaga-san will show you a good time," she says, and with that she turns back to the other customers, diving right back into mixing drinks as if she hadn't paused at all.

Tominaga-san turns out to be a tall, slender woman with white-blond hair that frames her sharp features. She smiles politely, gorgeously, but doesn't say a word as she leads him across the floor and up a long staircase. At the last step is a door, and beyond that is a short hallway, and then, finally, their destination: a large, spartan office, well-lit but painted entirely in black. A desk sits in the middle of the room and is bookended by two office chairs, one of them as plushly upholstered as a royal throne, the other looking like it's a kick or two away from falling apart. Aiba bets it squeaks something fierce. On one wall is a long, darkly tinted window overlooking the club below; and at the other wall, standing behind a small but visibly well-stocked bar, is the woman he came to see. She's dressed in fashionably torn black clothing and has spiky jet-black hair and raccoon rings around her eyes.

He hears the door close behind him, but he can't look away to see if Tominaga-san has left them alone. The woman at the bar sets aside two shot glasses and pours whiskey into them, but she doesn't speak, letting the moment stretch out between them, filled only by the muffled beat of the music from downstairs.

When it becomes clear to Aiba that the woman isn't going to make the first move, he clears his throat and says, "So you must be the Zebra Queen."

That hard stare of hers finally breaks, revealing a smile underneath, but it's not particularly warm or inviting. "Some call me that," she says. She picks up the shot glasses and strides over to her desk, where she takes a seat in the plush chair and motions for him to sit as well. " _You_ can call me Aihara-san."

He takes a seat -- the chair is just as squeaky as he guessed -- and the offered shot glass. "Thank you, Aihara-san." They clink glasses and knock them back in unison. The whiskey is the smoothest Aiba's had in a while.

"So," Aihara says, regarding him coolly. "What brings you here, detective?"

Aiba is a little disappointed but not at all surprised that she's caught him. He might as well just be honest if that's the case. He leans back in his squeaky chair and explains, "This club of yours has gotten pretty popular in a very short amount of time, and we've heard rumors as to why that might be. So, we'd just like you to know that we'll be keeping an eye on you."

Aihara leans back in her chair, considering. Even as she thinks, her eyes never leave him. "I see," she says after a moment. "Well, detective, I think you'll find that there's nothing illegal going on here."

"Only people having a good time," he finishes.

She doesn't quite manage to keep a straight face. "Would _you_ like to have a good time?"

He can tell from the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice that she doesn't mean pulling out a board game or having a friendly conversation. He starts, "That's quite forward of --"

As if he hadn't spoken, Aihara looks up, past Aiba, and says, "Leave us."

Aiba turns, startled. He hadn't realized Tominaga-san was still in the room with them. He watches as she opens the door and leaves, closing it again behind her. When he turns back towards the desk, Aihara is suddenly in front of him, close enough to touch. He can't help but jump a bit, but before he can react any further, she hitches a knee up onto the chair and wedges it between his thighs, pressing hard. The look in her eyes is something he couldn't decipher even if all the blood in his head weren't suddenly traveling south.

She smirks, and somehow just that quirk of her mouth is something lewd -- something dangerous. "You were saying?"

Aiba swallows audibly and tries to keep his breathing even. "Very forward of you," he says again.

Without warning, she grabs him by the lapels of his jacket and shoves him back onto the desk with surprising strength. Papers go scattering in every direction, a dozen tiny objects dig uncomfortably into his back, and he swears he feels something break under his weight, but she doesn't seem to care about any of it. She climbs onto the desk and settles right over his hips, not waiting for any kind of signal before she starts tearing open the buttons on his dress shirt and pushing his undershirt up to reveal his stomach and chest. She runs her palms down the curves of his ribs and digs her fingers in, her black-painted nails cut short but just long enough for him to feel them carve little crescents into his skin.

"Aihara-san," he gasps, squirming. She's seated right over his crotch and her leather pants are doing very little to mask how searing hot she is between her legs; his slacks are doing just as little to mask how crazily turned on _he_ is. "I don't think this is very professional --"

"Are you telling me to stop?" she counters. She grins like a Cheshire cat as her nails leave red lines down his sides.

He searches deep within himself and drags up every last ounce of willpower he can find -- but in the end, it's all he can do to trail his hands up her strong thighs and tell her, "Not exactly." Her response is to grind down against him and tweak his nipples so hard that he yelps, and the sound of it just makes her laugh.

She lets him fuck her, but he isn't foolish enough to think even for a moment that she's not the one in control.

Afterwards, as Aiba is gingerly pulling his clothes back on, he mutters to himself, "I don't think that will be going in my report."

She smirks at him. "No? Why not?" She's back in her chair, still mostly undressed but comfortable in her nudity. She retrieves a pack of cigarettes from one of the drawers and lights one, giving herself a moment to simply enjoy the taste and feel of it. She makes for quite the image, unapologetically disheveled amongst the wasteland of strewn papers and torn clothing. She catches him staring and breathes out a smoky laugh.

"Detective," she says, "before you leave, I want you to realize that what just happened between us only happened because I wanted it to. You can come in here and threaten me all you like, but within Zebra City, I am queen." She takes another puff, completely unhurried, and adds, "So, I'd just like you to know that I'll be keeping an eye on you."

His own words thrown back at him hit him with such force that a chill runs down his spine.

Before he can respond, the door behind them opens to reveal Tominaga-san, bowing and unfazed by the sight before her. "Aiba-san, your cab has arrived."

Aiba looks back at Aihara, stunned -- he never told anyone his name -- to find her twirling idly in her chair, the smoke from her cigarette spiraling up towards the ceiling. She watches him intently even as she spins, her smile growing wider with each revolution.

"Do come back," she sing-songs after him as Tominaga-san leads him away.

He plans on it. After that, he doesn't think he could stay away if he tried.

  


**_5\. Love and Justice_ **

After disguising herself as an art curator for weeks, Zebra Queen has finally hit the jackpot. The exhibit she's been planning for up-and-coming artist Ohno Satoshi is wildly popular, which means an entire studio full of people who are passionate about art. And _that_ means a whole lot of energy.

The paintings on display were created with special materials, made by her to leech the energy from anyone viewing them. Her plan is so successful that after only an hour, patrons have begun to collapse left and right, completely drained of their energy. A caster from News Zero, who showed up to report on the exhibit, begins speaking in panicked tones into the camera, but within seconds he too drops to his knees.

Ohno, of course, has been using the materials for weeks in order to create his masterpieces. He was already so exhausted at the beginning of the night that now, as Zebra Queen makes her way to him from across the room, he can barely stand. "Naka-san," he gasps, bracing against the wall to keep himself steady. "What -- what's going on?"

She steps into his space, but she's transformed back into her true form now, and even in his weakened state, he flinches away from her. She touches his arm and instantly feels tendrils of energy pass from his body into hers. "Hush, Ohno-san. You've created these beautiful works of art, and now the energy they've collected is going to fuel Zebra City for months. Aren't you proud?"

He gives a murmur of protest, and then his legs give out from beneath him.

Cackling, she reaches for him. She's just about to leech away the last of his energy, when suddenly --

"Stop right there!"

 _Damn._ Zebra Queen turns away from her source of glorious energy to see that damned Aiba-chan, standing proud in the studio doorway with arms akimbo. Circling his ankles, as usual, is that wretched talking cat with the yellow eyes and the spot on its chin. Before she can say anything, he launches into one of his ridiculous speeches, the ones that are always accompanied by superfluous hand gestures.

"These people are here to gaze at beautiful art, not have their energy sucked away by some creep like you! How dare you disrupt the fulfillment of someone's dream! In the name of qualified throat specialists everywhere, I will punish you!"

Zebra Queen crosses her arms and glares. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's part of the speech!" Aiba-chan cries, pointing a menacing finger in her direction. "Now give all these people their energy back!"

She scoffs, and with a snap of her fingers, a squad of Zebra Police appears around her. "Teach this boy a lesson," she commands.

In an impressive display of acrobatics, Aiba-chan manages to evade their bullets without harming anyone or anything, although there are several close calls that involve a good deal of scrambling and some creative stretching. This goes on for several minutes as that damn cat snaps orders at him -- "Left, left! Your other left, you idiot!" -- from a safe spot beneath a table display. Meanwhile, Zebra Queen uses this time to soak up more energy from the hapless patrons. But, impressive as he is, Aiba-chan can't run forever: by the time Zebra Queen makes her way back to Ohno, still passed out on the floor, the Zebra Police have Aiba-chan cornered. He shouts for her to stop as she leans over Ohno's prone form, but there's nothing he can do to save the artist now.

Just then, a single rose flies past, grazing her hand as she reaches for Ohno.

She recoils with a hiss. There, crouched atop a large sculpture of a fish, is a man who looks like he's stepped right out of a manga, in a sharp tuxedo with a white ballroom mask and a flowing cape lined with deep purple.

"Matsujun!" Aiba-chan sighs dreamily, suddenly sparkly-eyed.

Beneath the mask, the man blushes. "Aiba-chan, how many times do I have to tell you not to call me that when we're in costume?"

"Sorry, Matsujun!"

Matsujun rolls his eyes so hard that Zebra Queen can tell he's doing it even with the mask. He doesn't bother with a response, just reaches into his jacket for another handful of roses and tosses them out, knocking the Zebra Police back. "Now, Aiba-chan!"

Aiba-chan nods and climbs to his feet. He strikes a pose and, from what appears to be out of thin air, summons a package of cough drops. Everything around him seems to twinkle as he twirls in place and shouts, "Chewy Menthol Heart Drop!" With a flash, the package opens and sends cough drops flying in a wide, shimmery arc. Aiba-chan's aim is true: the drops hit their marks and reduce the Zebra Police to piles of gray, lifeless ash.

Aiba-chan turns on Zebra Queen next, but she deflects his attack and sends the next vault of cough drops careening into a wall of paintings. Upon impact, all the energy those paintings have collected bursts free and returns to its original hosts.

"Damn you, Aiba-chan!" she screams, furious that he's sabotaged yet another of her attempts and destroyed yet another group of henchmen. She opens a portal and jumps through it, ignoring Aiba-chan's shouts for her to wait and face menthol-flavored justice.

Back in Zebra City, Zebra Queen stomps into her room and thinks grumpily that she'll just have to come up with another scheme to get that energy, and to get Aiba-chan.

And she will get Aiba-chan, dammit. She'll get him if it's the last thing she does.

  


**_. . . And One Way They Did._ **

After sitting in a chair and having strangers apply make-up to her face for so long that all her joints have gone stiff, Riisa is finally, _finally_ ready to perform. She's being led down a long hallway on her way to the set, thinking idly that she'd like to get back home to her animals as soon as possible, when she spots a familiar, lanky figure heading towards her.

She recognizes him before he recognizes her. In fact, he stares quite unashamedly for a moment before a look of realization sets over his features, and he greets her cheerily, "Ah, Riisa-chan!"

She can't help but smile, charmed enough by his familiarity to return it in kind. "Aiba-kun," she greets him. "What are you doing here?"

"I've got an interview next door. You look incredible!" He doesn't even bother trying to hide the way he's staring, but she doesn't feel uncomfortable because there's nothing lecherous or creepy about it; he's clearly just impressed by the intricacy and outrageousness of the costume. By now she's used to all the leather and make-up, but she remembers the first time she saw herself in the mirror with all of it. The hair alone was enough to startle her. "Is this for the movie?" Aiba asks.

"Yes, I'm --" She breaks into a pose, fingers splayed in imitation of claws. "Zebra Queen~"

"Uwaaa! Terrifying!" He pretends to be frightened, but his eyes show unmistakable delight.

They share a moment of laughter, but before long someone in a headset is peeking from around the corner. "Naka-san, we're ready for you!"

"I'll let you go, then," Aiba says, bowing congenially.

She returns the bow. "Good luck with your interview."

They part ways, but after only a few steps, she hears his voice calling after her. "You really do look amazing!"

She glances back to see him waving excitedly. "Thank you, Aiba-kun!"

"No," he calls back. The smile he sends her is as bright as the sun. "Call me Aiba-chan!"

  


**_*_ **

**Author's Note:**

> I did some DVD-style commentary for the pet scene [here](http://kinoface.dreamwidth.org/36217.html?thread=136569#cmt136569). :D


End file.
